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Van Vleuten came into the Tour de France Femmes fully focused on winning the event for the second year in a row, a goal that still looked possible until the final two stages.
Eventual winner Demi Vollering (SD Worx) launched a killer attack on the Col du Tourmalet on Stage 7 which saw her leapfrog to first on the general classification and gain a two-minute and 28 second advantage over van Vleuten.
The final stage's individual time trial offered one last chance to shake up the final standings, but van Vleuten again struggled to put together the powerful performances she is known for. She finished 14th on the stage and dropped to fourth overall.
"I was in the battle and gave it my all," van Vleuten said.
"I didn’t make any mistakes or think that I was not smart or that I did something wrong. I don’t know what happened, I was obviously not myself. And that’s a bit sad for my last Tour de France. I don’t know what happened."
The 40-year-old two-time world road and time trial champion is retiring at the end of this season, which adds to the emotion of missing this final chance at victory.
But it wasn't a lack of form that impacted her Tour de France Femmes campaign. Van Vleuten admitted she had stomach problems and felt unwell for those final two crucial stages.
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Stage 8 - Daily Highlights - Tour de France Femmes 2023
"When I woke up this morning, I already felt off. Yesterday evening I felt like I would be sick this morning. I was not really sick, I didn’t have a temperature that was high, but I said I’d give it a go, you never know," van Vleuten said.
"But I already know from how I was riding yesterday on the Tourmalet, I think people that watch more women’s cycling know it is not the level I normally have.
"Knowing how I felt and that it was hard to recover from that stage in a short time, I was hoping for it and going for it but I knew that it would be hard."
The Tour was still a success for van Vleuten and Movistar with teammates Liane Lippert and Emma Jorgensen both winning stages.
"It was super nice to share the win of Liane and Emma, two beautiful wins out of eight stages," van Vleuten said.
The Movistar team embraced the soon-to-retire van Vleuten after the final time trial adding to the big emotions of the day.
"I think we achieved a lot of beautiful memories, and it's also what the manager told me, and it will not make any difference after this disappointing Tour de France for me, personally, for the GC.
"But we won two stages, and we achieved a lot together, and that was nice to hear those words of the manager at the finish."
Ever the professional, van Vleuten will now turn her attention to supporting SD Worx rivals Vollering and Lorena Wiebes as they race together for the Netherlands at the Glasgow World Cycling Championships.
"I think Vollering will be the leader, together with our sprinter, and I will be there also, but I am not the leader," Van Vleuten said, switching from her personal disappointment to praise for Vollering's achievements at the Tour.
"I think she already [arrived] this spring at an amazing level. It was sad that I could not really compete with her for the last two days [at the Tour de France] at my normal level because it would have been a bit more interesting."
While the van Vleuten vs Vollering rivalry has been a big talking point of the Tour, van Vleuten has also demonstrated more of a mentoring role to the younger riders as she wraps up an incredible career so far - including 26-year-old Vollering.
"She was super good, the whole team, they did super well," van Vleuten said.
"She is a young rider and it is not easy to have so much pressure on your shoulders. I can also feel the pressure. I'm 40, and I can also feel the pressure, and I'm a bit more used to it.
"She can deal with the pressure, and it's not easy in the Tour de France, there's a lot of tension, so shout out to her that she can handle it already at such a young age. She had an amazing performance."
